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Beau Chene awaits playoff fate after unexpected season

Bobby Ardoin, Special to the Daily World
Published 5:44 p.m. CT Jan. 30, 2018

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With less than a month to go in the regular season, James Bewers sits down with Beau Chene boys soccer coach Chad Vidrine about the Gators' season, as well as what changes the coaches association would like to see in post-season play.
Caitlin Jacob

The completion of the regular season looks nothing like what was projected at the start for the Beau Chene boys’ soccer team.

Ask head coach Chad Vidrine to explain it and he characterizes 2017-18 as one of taking an unanticipated route to where he thinks his team will be when the playoff games begin sometime later this week.

When the boys’ postseason soccer pairings are announced Wednesday, Vidrine thinks his Gators could be seeded as high as a No. 3 in Division II.

That’s a pretty good spot to be, Vidrine said, considering the Gators lost their returning leading scorer for a second straight season.

Senior John Morgan Eaglin, who missed nearly all of 2016-17 with a torn ACL, played in only 14 games this season before experiencing a similar injury — this time to the opposite knee.

If there was any silver lining to that injury, Eaglin’s younger brother, Adrian, a sophomore, has stepped up from the midfielder and forward position and joined senior Landon Guidry and Noah Haupt, another sophomore, to give the Gators a triple-threat scoring package.

Guidry, who has started for nearly all of his Beau Chene career, leads the Gators in scoring (22 goals, 10 assists). Haupt is (10-26), while Adrian Eaglin has 18 goals and eight assists.

John Morgan Eaglin scored seven times in the first 14 games.

Vidrine said Adrian Eaglin was named the Max Preps Player of the Week at one point this month.

“”We’ve played a real rough schedule this year, with a lot of Division I and Divison II teams that you will see in the top 5 of the playoffs. We did that with not a whole lot of depth.

“Looking back on the year so far, I have to be pleased. It is sort of a bounce back year for us. I really didn’t know how we would respond. We’ve taken a bunch of guys who were role players and we’ve molded them around a new bunch of scorers who have also had to develop, especially after John Morgan had his injury.

“Some of those that have had to adapt are seniors now, and now we have a new crop of players coming up already. So now there’s been a lot more mental preparation for us between matches.

“It’s been a different experience, but I’m proud of what we’ve done. We have a chance to host all the way to the quarterfinals providing there are no upsets,” said Vidrine.

Beau Chene won its division in the 64-team COPA-Acadiana tournament back in November and then recaptured its St. Landry Parish boys’ title (3-0) by sweeping Opelousas High, Opelousas Catholic and Westminster Christian.

The Gators have allowed only 1.66 goals per game, something Vidrine attributes to a good group of defenders. Sophomore Grant Smith has played in goal most of the season.